Measuring dispenser



March 6, 1962 G. o. MATTER MEASURING DISPENSER Filed March 12, 1957 m TN E v m 3,023,937 MEAURING DISPENSER Gustave 0. Matter, 3112 NE. 46thAve, Portland, Oreg- Filed Mar. 12, 1957, Ser. No. 645,535 7 Claims.(Cl. 222-440) My invention relates to measuring dispensers of the typeadapted to dispense a measured amount of a freeflowing substance,including granulated and powdered substance, from a container.

An object of this invention is a dispenser which controls the amount ofsubstance dispensed from its container.

Another object is a dispenser which prevents direct flow of contentsfrom its containers.

Another object is a container dispenser which is encased within thecontainer.

Another object is a dispenser adapted to prevent communication out of orinto its container.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear in and fromthe following specification considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings, which are for purpose of illustration and notintended as a definition of the invention, the invention being definedin the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings, in which like characters of referenceindicate corresponding parts throughout the several views:

FIG. I is a vertical section of a container in its normal uprightposition with its dispenser attached to the top thereof,

FIG. II is the same container and dispenser shown in FIG. I, shown in aninverted position.

FIG. III is a section on line IlIIlI of FIG. II with a portion of thecontainer broken away.

FIG. 1V is a vertical section of the upper portion of a container with adispenser of slightly modified form attached thereto and shown in aninverted position.

FIG. V is a section on line VV of FIG. IV, with a portion of thecontainer broken away.

Referring to the numerals on the drawings, the dispenser has a measuringcompartment 1 bounded by encircling side wall 2, a bottom wall 3 and thelower edge 4 of the flared end portion 5 of a measuring compartmentoutlet conduit 6 which leads to conduit outlet 7. The lower edge 4 ofthe conduit 6 provides an outlet passageway from the measuringcompartment 1 into the outlet conduit 6.

A supply compartment 8 is formed by an upward continuation of measuringcompartment encircling wall 2 which terminates upward in an enlargedportion 9, the upper edge 10 of which is spaced below a lid providingthe top wall 11 of a container 12 and is attached to the top wall 11 asby legs 13. A portion of the periphery of the edge 4 of the flared endportion 5 of the conduit 6 engages the side Wall 2 of the receptacle ormeasuring compartment and thereby prevents material which has beenintroduced into the measuring compartment 1 from returning to the supplycompartment 8. The remaining portion of the periphery of edge 4 isspaced from the wall 2 and provides with the adjacent wall portion amaterial inlet passageway 14 leading from the supply compartment 8 toallow the material to gravitate into the measuring compartment 1, aswill be readily obvious.

The outlet conduit 6 is slidably mounted in the container top wall 11and the flared end portion 5 of outlet conduit 6 is thereby movablewithin the measuring compartment 1 to permit adjustment of the loweredge 4, of the flared end portion 5 of the outlet conduit 6, in relationto the bottom wall 3 of the measuring compartment 1 whereby the capacityof the measuring compartment 1 can be regulated.

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As shown in FIGS. I-II and III, the enlarged portion 9 of supplycompartment 8 is concentrically spaced from the side wall 15 of thecontainer 12, thereby forming a passageway 16 to permit material togravitate into the supply compartment 8 by way of space 17 between upperedge 10 and container top wall 11 when the container 12 with itsdispenser is in an inverted position similar to that shown in FIG. II.

As shown in FIGS. IV and V, the enlarged portion 9 of supply compartment8 is eccentrically spaced from the side wall 15 of the container 12,with its enlarged portion 9 adjacent the side wall 15 of the container12 at the side of the enlarged portion 9 which is on the opposite sideof the conduit 6 from the measuring compartment inlet passageway 14,thereby preventing an excess of material from gravitating from thesupply compartment 8 back into the container when the container 12 withits dispenser is slowly moved from an inverted position as shown in FIG.IV to its normal upright position similar to that shown in FIG. I.

In operation, with the container 12 and its dispenser in an invertedposition, similar to that shown in FIGS. II and-IV, material willgravitate through passageway 16 and space 17 into supply compartment 8,when the container 12 with its dispenser is moved to its normal uprightposition, similar to that shown in FIG. I, a portion of the material inthe supply compartment 8 will gravitate therefrom through measuringcompartment inlet passageway 14 and fill measuring compartment 1, thecontainer 12 with its dispenser is then moved to the dispensing positionas shown in FIGS. II and IV which show the measuring compartment inletpassageway 14 located uppermost in relation to the measuring compartmentoutlet passageway and only the small amount of material which is in thepassageway 14 when the container is in its normal upright position, asshown in FIG. I, will return to the supply compartment 8 when thed eviceis inverted to its dispensing position, as shown in FIGS. II and IV, andthe amount will be substantially the same whether the device is movedslowly or rapidly from its normal upright position to its dispensingposition, and only the material in the measuring compartment 1 willgravitate through conduit 6 and out of conduit outlet 7. FIGS. IV and Vshow the outlet conduit 6 positioned eccentrically to both the measuringcompartment side wall 2 and the side wall 15 of the container 12, in adirection below the center of the container, when the dispenser andcontainer are in dispensing position as shown in FIG. IV.

The proper dispensing position of the device is with the measuringcompartment outlet passageway relatively below the inlet passageway 14,as illustrated in FIGS. II and IV.

To operate the dispenser for maximum accuracy the container, with itsdispenser, is held in its normal upright position and the measuringcompartment outlet passageway will be positioned at one side of themeasuring compartment with the inlet passageway positioned adjacent theside of the outlet passageway in the opposite side of the measuringcompartment therefrom. The container is then tipped, in the directiontoward the outlet passageway side of the measuring compartment, to itsdispensing position and the outlet passagewaywill then be positionedrelatively below the inlet passageway of the measuring compartment, asshown in FIGS. II and IV.

In the arrangement shown in FIGS. IV and V a means to indicate theproper direction in which to tip the container and its dispenser fromits normal upright position to its dispensing position is illustrated asbeing the conduit 6 projecting out from the container lid 11, theconduit 6 being positioned to one side of the center of the lid 11,which, as shown in FIG. IV, with the device in its dispensing position,would be below the center of the lid 11 thus indicating the direction inwhich the device is to be tipped from its normal upright position to itsdispensing position, and the direction indicated would be toward theside of the measuring compartment wherein the outlet passageway islocated.

As shown in all of the figures of the drawing, and particularly asillustrated in FIGS. I1 and IV, an important advantage of theconstruction whereby the inlet 14 is formed across a portion of theperiphery of the edge 4 of the flared end of the conduit 6, with theremainder of the edge 4 engaging the side wall 2, is that when thecontainer is in dispensing position, as illustrated in FIGS. II and IV,only a minor portion of the material in the measuring compartment 1 canpossibly gravitate back into the supply compartment 8 and accordinglythere is provided a greater accuracy in connection with the dispensingof the material than would be the case if it were possible for thematerial to gravitate back into the supply compartment 8 anywhere aroundthe periphery or edge 4 of the flared end portion 5 of the conduit.

The capacity of measuring compartment 1 is controlled by the slidableconduit 6 and its flared end portion 5 and is determined by the spacebetween the lower edge 4 of the flared end portion 5 and the bottom wall3 of the measuring compartment 1.

When it is desired to completely shut off communication from the insideof the container 12 to the outside thereof the container with itsdispenser is placed in an inverted position to allow material in themeasuring compartment to flow therefrom and the conduit 6, with itsflared end portion is moved inward until the lower edge 4 of the flaredend portion 5 contacts the bottom wall 3 of the measuring compartment 1.

While the specification sets forth in detail the construction of thedevice, deviation from the construction shown may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appendedclaims.

In view of the foregoing description, taken in conjunction With theaccompanying drawings, it is deemed that a clear understanding of theinvention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore a moredetailed description islaccordingly thought unnecessary.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A dispenser for a container having a top wall and a side wall, saiddispenser comprising an elongate receptacle having a side wall, a bottomend wall and an upper end, said upper end of the receptacle being joinedto the inner side of the container top wall and the receptacle dependingfrom said top wall into the container, the side wall of the receptacleadjacent to the upper end having a material admission openingtherethrough, the said upper end portion of the receptacle forming amaterial supply compartment and the lower end portion forming a materialmeasuring compartment, an outlet conduit extending at one end throughsaid top wall and terminating at its other end within the materialmeasuring compartment and providing an outlet passageway from themeasuring compartment into the outlet conduit, the said other end of theconduit having an end edge thereof in contact with the surface of thematerial measuring compartment side wall through the major extent ofsuch surface around said end edge, the remaining extent of said surfacearound said end edge being spaced from a portion of said end edge andproviding between said other end and the said measuring compartment sidewall an inlet passageway from the supply compartment to the measuringcompartment, said outlet passageway being in one side of said measuringcompartment and said inlet passageway being in the opposite side of saidmeasuring compartment and adjacent a side of side outlet passageway whenthe container is in its normal upright position, the container beingtipped in the direction toward the outlet passageway side of themeasuring compartment from its normal upright position to its dispensingposition, and the position of said other end of the conduit relative tosaid bottom wall of the receptacle determining the measuring capacity ofthe dispenser.

2. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the conduit is axiallymovable whereby the position of said end edge of said conduit ischangeable relative to the bottom wall of the receptacle to alter thecapacity of the measuring compartment and the quantity of material to bedispensed.

3. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the said other end of theconduit is flared and the said end edge in contact with said surfaceconstitutes a portion of the periphery of such flared end.

4. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the said lower endportion of the receptacle forming the measuring compartment is ofcircular cross-section, the said conduit having said other end flaredand said flared end having a periphery which is circular through a majorpart of its extent and conforms to the circular surface of the measuringcompartment wall, the remaining part of said periphery extendingchordally to the circular wall of the measuring compartment andproviding said inlet passageway.

5. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the conduit has saidother end flared and a major extent of the periphery of such flared endengages the wall of the said lower portion of the receptacle, theremaining extent of said periphery being spaced from the side wall ofthe measuring compartment and providing said inlet passageway into themeasuring compartment, said conduit being axially movable through thecontainer top wall for adjusting the position of said flared endrelative to the bottom wall of the measuring compartment whereby toalter the capacity of the measuring compartment and the quantity ofmaterial to be dispensed.

6. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the said lower endportion of the receptacle forming the measuring compartment is ofcircular cross section, the said conduit having said other end flaredand a major portion of said flared end of said conduit has engagementwith the side wall of said lower portion of the receptacle and the saidmajor portion of the flared end having a periphery of circular contourconcentric with the engaged portion of the said side wall of thereceptacle.

7. The invention according to claim 1, wherein a portion of theperiphery of said side wall of the receptacle at the upper end of thelatter is in closely spaced adjacency to the side wall of the containerat that side of the side wall of the upper end of the receptacle whichis on the opposite side of the outlet conduit from the inlet passageway,the remaining portion of the periphery of said side wall of saidreceptacle being spaced inwardly from the side Wall of the container andproviding by such spacing a passageway between the side wall of thecontainer and the side wall of the receptacle leading to the saidmaterial admission opening.

. References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,297,244 R'auen Mar. 11, 1919 1,877,808 Cagliostro Sept. 20, 19322,021,004 Garrido Nov. 12, 1935 2,269,876 Jensen Jan. 13, 1942 2,335,363Shelton Nov. 30, 1943 2,407,377 Meyer Sept. 10, 1946 2,425,142 BrubakerAug. 5, 1947 2,535,845 Fink Dec. 26, 1950 2,739,741 Barnett Mar. 27,1956 2,801,034 Silver July 30, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,064,934 FranceDec. 30, 1953

